Why doesn't Vietnam buy Olympic television rights?

Vietnam is one of the few countries that does not own the broadcasting rights for the 2024 Olympics. In Southeast Asia alone, 9 out of 11 countries own the rights, although most of them "score in the 90th minute".

Swimming superstars help the 2024 Olympics open attractively - Photo: REUTERS

The common problem in most countries is the ever-increasing cost of television rights due to the commercialization of sports.

Cost is the main barrier

Speaking to Tuoi Tre, a representative of a television station that owns many copyrights for international tournaments in Vietnam said: "In the process of negotiating television copyrights, the biggest obstacle is still the increasingly expensive costs while exploitation is ineffective, and advertising cannot be sold. Even tournaments like the Euro and World Cup are very difficult to sell advertising to offset the cost of purchasing copyrights. Compared to football tournaments, those who are really interested in the Olympics only account for a small number." In previous years, fans often reacted quite harshly on forums and social networks when Vietnam was slow to (or did not have) copyrights to broadcast major tournaments. But this year, fans received the news that there was no copyright to broadcast the 2024 Paris Olympics in a "used to it" manner. There are many explanations for this change. First, it must be admitted that the appeal of the Olympics is not too great, so the number of viewers is not high. Next, the 2024 Olympics has few Vietnamese athletes participating and there is almost no hope of winning a medal. Next, fans have just been satisfied with the exciting matches at Euro 2024 and Copa America 2024. Mr. Nguyen Van Quan, 36 years old, an office worker, shared: "For me, the copyright of the 2024 Olympics is very good, if not, it's okay. It's true that there is a bit of regret, but it all comes from national pride, especially when compared to countries in the region. But it must be admitted that the 2024 Olympics is a playground beyond the reach of Vietnamese sports . Watching the Olympics is almost just watching world athletes compete. In addition, the time zone of the matches is not really too convenient." Similarly, Mr. Tran Ngoc Thanh Minh, a secondary school teacher, said that the Olympics is too high a level compared to Vietnamese sports. Therefore, he completely sympathizes with the hesitation of TV stations in buying copyrights. However, there needs to be a solution to buy broadcasting rights for the next games. This is not a story about whether Vietnamese sports are beyond reach or not, but the need to watch the Olympics with many audiences is real.

Thai way

As of early July, Thais were still arguing fiercely about the issue of copyright. For many years, Thailand has been one of the countries with the highest price increases for broadcasting rights to major tournaments. In 2014, Thailand spent 13 million USD to buy the World Cup copyright. But in the next two World Cups, they had to spend three times that amount to be able to broadcast matches at the world football tournament. The Thai National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NTBC) has met many times to discuss the "must-have" regulation set by the government. This regulation was introduced in 2012, creating a constraint that Thailand must always own the copyright of 7 major tournaments including the World Cup, Olympics, Paralympics, Asian Games (Asiad), Asian Para Games, SEA Games and Para Games. Although the Thai people strongly support this regulation, it also makes it difficult for broadcasters as well as NTBC. After the "must have" law was enacted, Thailand became the country with the most intense copyright "price hikes". As a result, by 2023, the NTBC had to vote to remove the World Cup from the list of 7 "must have" tournaments. Why the World Cup? Firstly, because Thai football has not reached the world level. Secondly, because the group of sports events is determined to be supreme. Although it may not be as commercially and media-rich as the Euro or the World Cup, the Olympics is symbolic of the sports movement and carries many other layers of meaning. Thailand is not the only country with continuously inflated prices through tournaments. Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam also face this situation. Since the 2014 World Cup, major Singaporean telecommunications companies such as Singtel, Starhub, and Mediacorp have begun to cooperate to negotiate copyright purchases.

Government support

Thailand has followed a similar model, with both government involvement and corporate support. For the 2022 World Cup, they secured the rights for $42 million. Of that, 40 percent was paid by the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT), with the rest coming from private companies. For the 2024 Paris Olympics, half of the $11.2 million (400 million baht) was paid by NTBC. The other half went to the National Sports Development Fund, which raised money from companies. A total of six broadcasters in Thailand have been allocated the rights to broadcast the Paris Olympics. In one way or another, every country in Southeast Asia owns the rights to the 2024 Olympics. In Malaysia, Astro Group holds the rights and allows people to watch all 32 sports for free in what is probably their largest copyright package ever. Filipino fans will also be able to watch the Olympics for free via One Sports and RPTV. Indonesia, meanwhile, will broadcast the Olympics on OTT platforms. Most of the countries mentioned above had to wait until the "90th minute" to own the copyright for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Malaysia in May, Singapore in early July, and Thailand even close to the opening ceremony. In general, every country has to face the problem of copyright prices increasing. But with the combined efforts of the government and private entities, most of their people will be able to watch the Olympics.

Olympic copyright prices are too high, unbearable

Speaking with Tuoi Tre on July 30, the leader of a television station said he really wanted to buy the Olympic copyright to broadcast, but the price was too high and he could not afford it. This person shared: "Recently, when the Olympics took place, we received many questions about why we did not buy the 2024 Olympic television rights to broadcast? The stations and television businesses certainly want to own the Olympic copyright. But the skyrocketing price of the Olympic copyright is the biggest obstacle that prevents us from buying it. The broadcast time of the Paris Olympics peak competitions takes place at night until dawn, the number of viewers cannot be as high as the Euro or World Cup. Spending a huge amount of money to buy, but what is the source of income to compensate is not a problem. There is no state budget to pour money into buying the Olympic, Asiad, SEA Games copyrights... so "profit and loss". Therefore, the economic problem in the current context is very difficult. We hope that large corporations specializing in sports copyright business in Vietnam will buy the Olympic copyright, if possible, cooperate to share the broadcast. However, at the last minute, even sports copyright businesses could not buy it, so they had to give up". A representative of another television station said that in addition to the high price and lack of revenue to compensate, rampant copyright infringement in Vietnam also makes the stations wary. This person said: "A company spends tens of millions of USD to buy copyright, but when they broadcast, it is stolen, loses control, and causes huge losses to the copyright owner." Speaking with Tuoi Tre, a representative of a sports copyright business said that in addition to the high price of Olympic copyright, this station decided not to buy because it did not have a qualified production team to cover the Olympics - a large-scale, complex event that requires understanding.

Tuoitre.vn

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/vi-sao-viet-nam-khong-mua-ban-quyen-truyen-hinh-olympic-2024073109584987.htm